I’ll Have a Blue, Blue, Blue, Blue Christmas

Christmas: the most wonderful time the year – unless it’s not. Every year, I feel a personal obligation to be an advocate for those of us who can’t get into the holly, jolly of the season.

I have no gripe against those who love this season. Although I wouldn’t go so far as to condone the commercialism and consumerism that goes along with it. Or the playing of Christmas music in public places. I was in a coffee shop the other day and two very bad versions of the same song blared into my consciousness. I’m a Christian and I’m offended by the ubiquitous carols. I can’t imagine being of another faith or no faith and having to endure the barrage.

OK, end of rant.

I actually love observing the season. I have my Nativity scene set up at home, with my blue
Advent wreath still beside it. No baby Jesus in the manger yet and the Magi are still far off in the distant (well, up on the window sill). Candles are in the windows and today I’ll get some greens to give the place that Christmas-y smell. And I’ll write some Christmas cards, still keeping this dying tradition because I still love getting cards (and those holidays letters too) and putting them up on the piano.

But – there is still a tinge of melancholy about it all. No matter how hard I try to resist the manufactured expectations of happy family gatherings amid mounds of perfectly chosen presents, I always succumb to it at some point. I’ve learned to find ways to both accept the sadness and find ways to mitigate it (this year, a trip to the beach at Santa Cruz!).

No matter the reasons for my holiday blues. We each have our reasons. Some have lost loved ones at this time of year, which casts a shadow over every year thereafter. Some are far away from families, either physically or emotionally. Some have never had a loving family. There are many reasons.

I am blessed. I have learned to enjoy the season in a spiritual way. In fact, I’ll be keeping the blue candles on my Advent altar all through the whole Advent/ Christmas/ Epiphany cycle. So, yes, I will be having a blue Christmas in the best sense of the word. And to those who still struggle with the season and long for it to be over, I say that you can create the kind of holy-day that you want it to be. You don’t have to be jolly. You don’t have to spend a ton of money on presents. You don’t have to have a tree in your home if you don’t want to. You, too, can have a blue, blue, blue, blue Christmas – and it will be just fine.